Modern digital data networks are carrying increasing amounts of traffic to an increasing number of destinations. To adjust to these changes, the organization of the networks of businesses and network providers are constantly being changed and adapted. These changes may occur to both the network hardware and software. To facilitate the software organization of a network, virtual local area network's (VLANs) may be utilized.
A VLAN, is a group of hosts with a common set of requirements that communicate as if they were attached to the same wire. This is achieved regardless of the actual physical location of each of the hosts. A VLAN has many of the same attributes as a physical local area network (LAN), but it allows end stations to be grouped together even if they are not located on the same LAN segment. Thus, network reconfiguration may be done through software instead of physically relocating devices.
Because VLANs simulate the physical connection of hosts, VLANs can provide segmentation services traditionally provided by routers in LAN configurations. This allows VLANs to address issues such as scalability, security, and network management.
Overview
A method of removing duplicate packets from a packet stream is disclosed. From a packet stream, a first packet, one or more intervening packets, and a second packet are received in the preceding order. The first packet is inserted into a buffer. The one or more intervening packets are inserted into the buffer after the first packet. At least a portion of the first packet is compared to at least a portion of the second packet to produce a comparison result. The second packet is inserted into the buffer after the one or more intervening packets if the comparison result indicates that the second packet is not a duplicate of the first packet.
A system for removing duplicate packets from a packet stream is disclosed. A buffer receives packets from the packet stream. Buffer insertion logic inserts a first packet from the packet stream into the buffer if the first packet is not a duplicate of a second packet already stored in the buffer. The first packet and the second packet are not received from the packet stream consecutively.
A method of operating a communication system is disclosed. A plurality of packets traversing a plurality of network switch ports is mirrored to produce a mirrored packet stream. The mirrored packet stream comprises at least a first packet, one or more intervening packets, and a second packet, in that order. The first packet is inserted into a buffer. The one or more intervening packets are inserted into the buffer. At least a portion of the first packet is compared to at least a portion of the second packet to produce a comparison result. The second packet is inserted into the buffer after the intervening packets if the comparison result indicates that the second packet is not a duplicate of the first packet.